A Friend Like That
by Miss Abracadabra
Summary: A series of one-shots about Elle and Emmett's friendship, and what the people around them see in it.


It was 8:30 in the morning when Elle Woods arrived at the courthouse. She was precisely half-an-hour early to what would be her team's second meeting with their client, fitness mogul and Delta Nu alumna Brooke Wyndham.

The team's first meeting with Brooke was disastrous to say the least. Callahan had made up his mind about Brooke before the case had even begun, and matters were only made worse when Brooke disclosed her alibi to Elle in private, putting the intern in an awkward position. Elle thought that before another high-tension day, spending some quality time with a fellow Delta Nu is just what Brooke – and frankly, she herself – needed.

After providing the necessary forms of identification and proof of employment (and insisting time and time again that, no, she wasn't a reporter, _can I please see my client now?_ ), she was finally taken to the conference room where Brooke sat, flanked by a guard whose job, Elle surmised, probably consisted mostly of pretending he wasn't listening to conversations.

Brooke's face lit up when Elle entered the room. "Elle! Thank God!" She stood up and Elle pulled her into a comforting hug, much to the guard's annoyance.

"How are you holding up?" Elle asked, pulling back and placing a hand on Brooke's shoulder.

Brooke lowered her voice. "Elle, I'm terrified," she replied. "I don't know what to do." Brooke fell back into her chair, and Elle could see tears welling up in her eyes.

"You trust us! Because we're not going to let anything happen to you." Elle sat down opposite Brooke, who let out a disbelieving laugh.

"I trust _you_ , Elle. The rest of them couldn't care less. They don't want to help me. Do you really think you can turn this around by yourself?" Elle frowned. The truth was that she wasn't as confident as she wanted Brooke to think she was, and for both of them to be so discouraged didn't bode well for the day ahead of them.

Elle exhaled sharply, then pulled her handbag onto the table. "I brought you something," she said, flashing an encouraging smile and producing a folded stack of fashion magazines from her purse. Although neither was particularly interested in the latest fashion trends at this given moment, Brooke smiled gratefully, silently thanking Elle for the distraction.

The women spent the next few minutes flipping idly through the glossy pages, not really looking at the photos, each utterly absorbed in thought until Elle broke the silence. "It's not just me, you know."

"Hm?"

"I mean, you're right. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for thinking I can make a difference by myself but then I remind myself that... it's not just me. I'm so glad that you trust me to fight for you, and I want you to know that you have people here who are going to do whatever it takes to get you out of here. Like Emmett, he's co-counsel, so he can –"

"– continue to follow Callahan around like a puppy, yeah, no thanks," Brooke interrupted brusquely. She tossed her magazine back onto the pile and folded her arms in her lap.

"It's not like that," Elle insisted, though she was well aware that she had accused Emmett of the same after their first meeting with Brooke. "I know how it seems, but you couldn't have anyone better fighting for you." Brooke returned a skeptical look.

Elle continued. "Look, when I first got to Harvard, I was a _mess_. Callahan hated me, everyone hated me." She leaned in confidentially to disclose the next bit of information: "I almost wore a _sweatsuit_ from _Target_ out in public. It was bad." She gave Brooke a moment to process that bombshell before she went on. "But Emmett was there for me when nobody else was. I would have given up if it wasn't for him. He was already working another job on the side and..." she trailed off for a moment. "He was still there whenever I needed him, though," she continued, now to herself more so than to Brooke.

It hadn't occurred to Elle before this moment how much Emmett had done to help her through that first semester – how much he continued to help her, even with the case weighing so heavily on them both. She was incredibly grateful, of course, but still hadn't considered what he must have sacrificed himself. Hours of sleep, obviously. But what else? Time spent with friends and family, surely.

Come to think of it, Elle couldn't name a single friend of Emmett's that she'd met. Maybe there was somebody on campus that he waved to each time they walked through the courtyard, but she couldn't quite remember. Had he ever texted anybody during their study sessions? Maybe. She hadn't paid attention.

With a rush of guilt, Elle thought how utterly self-centered she had been. It truly hadn't occurred to her at the time to consider that maybe her friend had a life outside of their friendship. It's not as if they were joined at the hip – but their seven-nights-a-week study schedule that saved Elle's Harvard career certainly couldn't have offered Emmett much. She knew he cared deeply about their friendship and enjoyed spending time with her, of course, but there must have been times when she burdened him.

Brooke was staring curiously, at which point Elle realized she'd been lost in thought for a considerable amount of time. "I guess what I'm saying," she continued rapidly, trying to salvage her speech, "is that I can't even imagine being on this team without him. You can trust me, and you can trust Emmett. After all, I wouldn't be here to fight for you if he hadn't believed in me."

Brooke sighed. "You know, right about now I could really use a friend like that myself."

Elle leaned across the tabled and took her hand and smiled. "Lucky for you, you have two."


End file.
